August 25, 2014

With the start of the new school year just around the corner, the USC School Board discussed what still needed to be finalized at their meeting last Tuesday.

Justin Webster, representative from Kraus-Anderson, was present at the meeting to specifically discuss the bus garage project.

"We went through the building code analysis to see what can actually be built and how much space is available,"?he says.

Going along with previous conversations with the School Board, Superintendent Dr. Jerry Jensen reiterated they would like to have as many buses on site as possible.

"We want to make sure the maximum amount of buses is on site if we ever need to evacuate,"?Jensen says.

Kraus-Anderson presented a drawing of how the bus garage might be set up based on those previous discussions and taking into consideration the maximum amount of buses.

Based on the amount of space available, Kraus-Anderson designed a 10-stall garage with two heated spaces and eight unheated.

The drawing showed one wall separating the heated stalls from the unheated stalls.

"We were wondering if it was possible to make the heated area have just one big door into the two stalls?" Jensen asked.

Webster said that was something which could be looked into.

"We'd like to have the proposals due Sept. 5, then award the work out at the Sept. 16 meeting,"?he adds.

Once the project is awarded, the work is projected to begin Oct. 1 with a completion date of Jan. 15.

The board plans to review the bids at their September board meeting.

They also discussed a handicap accessible sidewalk near the entrance of the elementary school, which has not been completed yet, but the architects are looking into it.

Superintendent Jensen was concerned that if they added it, they would need to add handicap parking on that side as well.

"That wouldn't be required,"?Anderson explained.

Also, in preparation for their open house at the new school facility, School Board member Jon Feist was concerned about the walls in the commons area.

"I have had paranoia the past few weeks and I?think we need to put anti-graffiti on that wall,"?he says.

This has been applied to columns outside the school and the board agreed it would be better to look into that now as opposed to paying more to get it fixed or cleaned up if anything should happen later.

The representative from Kraus-Anderson figured it would cost around 80 cents per square foot and he would look into having it done prior to the open house.

The open house for the new facility is scheduled for Aug. 28 from 3-7 p.m.